Christian Women in Chinese Society
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Christian Women in Chinese Society The Anglican Story Edited by Wai Ching Angela Wong and Patricia P. K. Chiu Hong Kong University Press The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.hku.hk © 2018 Hong Kong University Press ISBN 978-988-8455-92-8 (Hardback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Front cover images: (top) the five women priests of the HKSKH at the Tenth Anniversary of the ordination of Rev. Joyce Bennett and Rev. Jane Hwang, St Catherine’s School for Girls, 1981. From left to right: Rev. Mary Au, Rev. Joyce Bennett, Rev. Florence Li, Rev. Jane Hwang, Rev. Pauline Shek. Courtesy of HKSKH Religious Education Resource Centre; (below) missionaries at the North Gate of Foochow City with a group of Chinese women, c. 1903. At left, third row, in a nurse’s uniform, Miss Massey or Miss Baldwin; back row, left to right, Miss May Bennett, Mrs. Amy Wilkinson, and Miss Annie Wolfe. Culpin/MacKeith private family papers. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Hang Tai Printing Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, China Contents Series Introduction vii Philip L. Wickeri List of Illustrations viii Foreword ix Paul Kwong Acknowledgments xi List of Abbreviations xiii List of Contributors xiv Introduction 1 Wai Ching Angela Wong and Patricia P. K. Chiu Cross-Cultural Partnership Chapter 1 The Study of Chinese Women and the Anglican Church in Cross-Cultural Perspective 19 Kwok Pui-lan Chapter 2 “A Nation Cannot Rise above Its Women”: The Social Gospel at St. Hilda’s School for Girls, Wuchang, China, 1929–1937 37 Judith Liu Chapter 3 The Making of Bible Women in the Fujian Zenana Mission from the 1880s to the 1950s 59 Zhou Yun Women and Ordained Ministry Chapter 4 Deaconesses in the South China Missions of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), 1922–1951 85 Peter Cunich Chapter 5 The Ordination and Ministry of Li Tim Oi: A Historical Perspective on a Singular Event 107 Philip L. Wickeri vi Contents Chapter 6 A Distinctive Chinese Contribution: The Ordination of the First Five Women Priests in Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui 129 Wai Ching Angela Wong Life Histories Chapter 7 The Wolfe Sisters of Foochow, China: Born to Evangelize 157 Frances Slater Chapter 8 Zhan Aimei (1874–1943): An Ordinary Woman in Extraordinary Times 183 Jennifer R. Lin Chapter 9 The Social Contributions of a Chinese Anglican Woman Intellectual: The Life and Work of Kuo Siu-may 201 Chen Ruiwen Serving the Community Chapter 10 A Study of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui Women’s Missionary Service League in the 1930s and 1940s: Drawn from Reports of the Fourth to Seventh WMSL Conferences 225 Duan Qi Chapter 11 Anglican Women and Social Service in Hong Kong: Historical Contributions and Continuing Legacy 239 Jane Lee Bibliography 253 Index 264 Series Introduction Sheng Kung Hui: Historical Studies of Anglican Christianity in China The purpose of the series Sheng Kung Hui: Historical Studies of Anglican Christianity in China is to publish well-researched and authoritative volumes on the history of Anglican-Episcopal Christianity as a contribution to the intel- lectual, cultural, and religious history of modern China. With an in-depth focus on one particular denominational tradition, which has been in China for almost two hundred years, the series presents an interdisciplinary perspective that will also contribute to the history of Christianity in China. The emphasis throughout is on the life and work of the church in society. Individual volumes are written for an educated audience and a general readership, with some titles more academic in character and others of more general interest. The spirit of Anglicanism is expressed by the Chinese term Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui, meaning the “Holy Catholic Church of China,” the national church that was founded in Shanghai in 1912 and the first non-Roman church body in China. Anglicans stand between Protestants and Catholics in their approaches to Christian tradition and church order, but they are usually regarded as part of the Protestant movement in China. Since the nineteenth century, the Sheng Kung Hui has been involved in a wide range of educational, medical, and social welfare work alongside efforts to spread the Christian message and establish the church. In the first decades of the twentieth century, Chinese Sheng Kung Hui leaders began taking the lead. The Sheng Kung Hui has also played an important role in cultural exchange between China and the West. Copublished by Hong Kong University Press and the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Church), the first volume in the series wasImperial to International: A History of St. John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong (2013). This was followed by Christian Encounters with Chinese Culture: Essays on the Anglican and Episcopal Tradition in China (2015). The third volume was The Practical Prophet: Bishop Ronald O. Hall of Hong Kong and His Legacies (2015). Subsequent volumes will include a bilingual (Chinese and English) history of the Sheng Kung Hui tradition in photographs and images, and a full history of the Anglican and Episcopal mission in China. It is hoped that the series will encourage further dialogue on the place of Christianity in the history of modern China. Philip L. Wickeri, PhD, DD Series Editor Illustrations 2.1 St. Hilda’s School for Girls, 1934. 44 2.2 The Wakeman Family, 1931. 49 3.1 “Mrs Ahok and Maid,” India’s Women, January–February 1891. 65 3.2 “Lo-Nguong Women’s School with Miss B. Cooper,” India’s Women, November 1903. 67 3.3 “Chitnio and Her Son,” India’s Women, March 1892. 75 5.1 The Reverend Florence Li Tim Oi and the Vestry of Morrison Chapel Macau, 1948. 116 6.1 The five women priests of the HKSKH at the tenth anniversary of the ordination of Rev. Joyce Bennett and Rev. Jane Hwang, St. Catherine’s School for Girls, 1981. 140 7.1 The Wolfe family, 1896. 160 7.2 Minnie Wolfe with Hok Chiang Bible women, November 1895. 162 7.3 Missionaries at the North Gate of Foochow City with a group of Chinese women, circa 1903. 167 7.4 Children leaving a Christian day school, Fukien. 171 8.1 Zhan Aimei. 185 8.2 The 1921 double wedding of the two sons of Zhan Aimei and Lin Dao’an. 196 8.3 The last family portrait of Zhan Aimei and her adult children, 1931. 198 9.1 Kuo Siu-may and the students and staff of Nanjing University, circa 1986. 215 9.2 Kuo Siu-may and Bishop K. H. Ting, St. Paul’s Church, Nanjing. 217 11.1 Dr. Judith Hall, 1955. 245 11.2 Archbishop Peter Kwong and Rev. Dorothy Lau, opening ceremony of the Tseung Kwan O HKSKH Aged Care Complex, September 22, 2002. 248 Foreword Since New Testament times, Christianity has been a religion that has affirmed the human dignity of all. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, man and woman are one in Christ. All contribute to the life of the church. We see in the history of Anglicanism in China that women have been involved in the mission of the church from our nineteenth-century beginnings to the present day. And, as this volume shows, there has been, over the past century, a considerable develop- ment of the role of women in the church, in both lay and ordained ministry. In Hong Kong and perhaps South China more generally, women have played an important role in society, the traditional dominance of men in Chinese culture notwithstanding. There are many reasons for this, but the influence of Christianity is certainly a factor. In politics and society, in literary endeavors and academia, in business, in the church and in the home, women have had an enormous influence in Hong Kong. Education, family background, and social class have been, in my view, of equal importance to gender in shaping women’s role in church and society. This is the fourth book in our series, Sheng Kung Hui: Historical Studies of Anglican Christianity in China. It grew out of an international academic conference that was held here in 2015, with scholars coming from Australia, mainland China, Great Britain, and North America, as well as Hong Kong. About half of the chapters were written by men and women associated with Anglicanism, but there were also contributions by Christians from other churches, and from non-Christians. The authors express different views on their subjects, and sometimes differ from one another, which is natural and healthy in an academic environment. We welcome this kind of discussion and dialogue about our history, for it helps us come to a better understanding of our past and its meaning for the present and the future of the church. Both missionary women and Chinese Christian women are considered in this volume, as they should be. In the nineteenth century, they often worked hand in hand. There were usually more women missionaries than men in China, both single women and missionary wives. The early decades of the twentieth century saw the emergence of strong Chinese women in the churches. As in most churches in East Asia, the role of missionaries declined (or disappeared) beginning in the mid-twentieth century as churches became increasingly independent. x Foreword Christians in many parts of the world know of Florence Li Tim-oi, the first woman ordained in the Anglican Communion.